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But this may not be nearly enough to rid Toronto of its world-class embarrassment, which attracted American network television and global news outlets to the council chamber on Nathan Phillips Square.

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Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and all three parties at Queen’s Park may still need to intervene and end the sad, salacious chapter in Toronto’s political life.

That’s because Mayor Ford is promising to retaliate with an “outright war” — a conflict he’s fully capable of waging.

In other words, we have not hit bottom yet. Expect the worst.

With his brother, Councillor Doug Ford, playing Terminator to the mayor’s Rambo, the fearsome twosome give every evidence that local politics could deteriorate from weeks of comedy to months of tragedy.

Over the past few rancorous days, the Brothers Ford teamed up to try to intimidate councillors as they voted on sanctions against the mayor. They have threatened to disrupt council, filibuster on issues to shut down city business, and given every indication that the mayor won’t shrink away and seek help for suspected drug and alcohol addiction.

On Monday, while councillors debated the motion stripping Ford of his powers, the mayor walked over to the crammed public gallery and taunted citizens. The act created a ruckus and Speaker Frances Nunziata recessed the meeting.

This, in turn, aggravated the exchange. Citizens started chanting, “Shame, shame, shame.” The mayor’s brother joined the fray and it deteriorated into an ugly confrontation.

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“You are a disgrace,” one citizen shouted.

“How do you know Anthony Smith, you lying scumbag,” another shouted, referring to the man captured in a posed photo with the mayor in front of a residence police describe as a crack house, who was later slain in a gun attack.

“You are the scumbag, you little punk,” Doug Ford shot back. And on and on it went.

Understand, the mayor initiated the whole affair by leaving his seat and inciting the citizens, his driver recording the whole thing on a cellphone. The disruption also saw Ford bowl over miniature Councillor Pam McConnell as he rushed towards the gallery.

Peace restored, councillors removed all the powers council itself had granted the mayor — leaving him only with powers enshrined in the Municipal Act. Ford promises a legal challenge that will claim that council exceeded its powers and that by stripping his power to chair meetings and cutting his office budget, council makes it impossible for him to do his statutory duties as head of council.

“This is a serious issue that is going to hurt democracy in this city forever,” Ford said in his speech to council. Then, the threat:

“If you think American style politics is nasty . . . Mark my words, this is going to outright war in the next election. Am I mad? Absolutely right, I’m mad. What goes around, comes around.”

Any city councillor who needed a reminder as to why their mayor is the most horrid representation of their profession, their council and their city got a heavy dosage Monday.

Councillor after councillor, friends and allies of the mayor and foes alike, spoke in somber tones about a man who let them down, refuses to heed their counsel and pleas to get help and ultimately left them little option but to remove him from a position of real leadership.

Using a metaphor the football-loving mayor understands, Councillor ally Frank Di Giorgio said council is a team, and when one player is having a problem “you put him on the bench,” a councillor piped in.

“The mayor apparently wants to wage war; and I would rather wage peace,” he said.

Expect war. The mayor knows nothing but. He and his brother will do everything to disrupt the transfer of power to the deputy. For example, don’t be surprised if the mayor shows up to chair the executive committee, even though that privilege has been taken away.

Councillors asked the mayor, pleaded with him, to take a break, cooperate with police, apologize for using city letterhead to supply a reference letter to an alleged drug dealer and abuser of women. Ford remains unrepentant.

So, council, responding to public disgust over the mayor’s forced acknowledgement that he has smoked crack, drinks alcohol to excess and has “probably” had a few drinks and then driven his vehicle — took away the mayor’s discretionary powers.

Council acted in the city’s best interest. Don’t expect the same of the mayor.

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